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Tuesday, 16 September 2014

Upgrading to NSX 6.1

In this article I'm going to go through the steps of upgrading my nested NSX test lab from version 6.0.4 to 6.1 Chris Wahl (Blog | Twitter) has a great article with what's new in NSX 6.1. First step is to download the NSX 6.1 upgrade bundle from the VMware site:

Once it's downloaded log into the NSX Manager admin page and browse to the Upgrade section:

Click on the Upgrade button and choose the upgrade bundle that you just downloaded and click Continue:

The upgrade bundle should start uploading. This will take a few minutes:

Once the bundle has uploaded click Continue. The upgrade process warns you to ensure you have taken a snapshot prior to the upgrade. Once you are ready, click Upgrade:

Once the process starts you can monitor its progress:

Once the upgrade process has completed the NSX Manager VM will automatically reboot and take you back to the login screen. Once you log back in and go to the Upgrade section you should see it completed successfully and that it's now running at version 6.1:

Now that the NSX Manager is running at version 6.1 it's time to upgrade all the controllers and Edges. Since this is a test lab I only have one controller VM so as long as there are no vMotions within my lab I should not have any connectivity issues. To upgrade the controller VM log into the vSphere Web Client and navigate to the NSX Manager plugin and then click on the Installation menu item:

Click on the Upgrade Available link and then Yes to upgrade the NSX controllers:

If you refresh the vSphere Web Client you should see the installation in progress and then eventually the controller rebooting:

Once the controller has rebooted it should also be at version 6.1.

Next were going to upgrade the network virtualization components on the hosts. Browse to the Installation tab and click update:

The VIBS on each ESXi host should update to 6.1 and show as Ready:

The final step is to upgrade any Edges that you have within your environment. In my lab I only have two so this should be nice and easy. As you can see, they are both at version 6.0.4:

To upgrade the Edges simply select one, click on the Actions menu and then Upgrade Version

Finally click Yes to confirm:

Once all Edges are upgraded they should show version 6.1:

The steps above shows you how to upgrade to NSX 6.1 without any issues. During my upgrade I did have issues upgrading the Edges but I think this was because I hadn't upgraded the hosts prior to the Edges. Ultimately I ended up re-creating the Edges but if I had RTFM I don't think I would have encountered any issues. Also, remember to disable any firewall rules that block L2 connectivity between two VM's before testing :)

That's the upgrade complete, have yourself a well deserved cup of tea and go explore some of the new features.